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In time we hope to be able to provide a new platform for independent commentary and analysis, as well as rolling out new ways of connecting research to the live policy debate. For now, however, this website is no longer being updated.

Calling Melanesians benighted and backward is pointless and frankly dishonest. Photographs of the torture and execution of a woman from the highlands of PNG caused a global furore, typified by the headline: It’s 2013, And They’re Burning ‘Witches’. But who is this ‘they’ you keep talking about?

Gender quotas is one most effective way to fast track women numbers in parliament, however attempts to implement quotas in pacific island states are being met with uptight reluctance across the board. Are they truly yet another barrier in disguise?